Israel updates regulations on intelligence software exports
Human rights groups are critical of an updated agreement for exports of Israeli-developed spyware.
Israel’s Defense Ministry has introduced new restrictions on the exportation of cyber warfare tools. On Dec. 6, the Export Control Division of the Defense Ministry published an updated version of its end use declaration that exporting Israeli companies must sign as a condition for selling Israeli-developed cyber intelligence and other systems. According to Israeli legislation, the declaration is required for an export license, without which any such deal would be blocked.
By signing the updated document, formulated jointly by the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, an exporting company guarantees that countries interested in acquiring their Israeli-made cyber intelligence tools will restrict their use to the investigation and prevention of terrorism and other serious crimes. The definitions of terrorist acts and serious crimes have also been updated. According to the updated version, terrorist acts are actions intended to threaten a population that may result in death, injury or hostage-taking.
The new document explicitly states, “An act of expressing an opinion or criticism … shall not, in and of itself, constitute a Terrorist Act” or a “Serious Crime.” The new rules also forbid Israeli-developed systems from being used “to inflict harm on an individual or a group of individuals, merely due to their religion, sex or gender, race, ethnic group, sexual orientation, nationality, country of origin, opinion, political affiliation, age or personal status.”
The Defense Ministry clarified that sanctions could be imposed if these terms are breached, including limiting or disconnecting the purchased system. It also stated that the updated version joins a series of actions taken in recent years by Israeli authorities regarding supervision of the exportation of cyber intelligence systems.
